For Sunday June 24th, 2018

Hello everyone, in today's vast expanse of financially driven modern media we are awash with sensationalist outrage, adamant viewpoints, and selfishly motivated reasoning. Such anger and bitterness can destroy a person's peace of mind. 

Yet we are social animals who depend upon one another. We benefit greatly from applying love and compassion in the situations we encounter. Such compassion brings optimism and hope.

Let us sit this Sunday for the wisdom to choose wisely and lovingly for ourselves and in our interactions with others. May we have the courage and insight to see the person standing behind the opinions. May we prep our society for the healing which must occur.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday June 17th, 2018

Hello to everyone, it is said that true stillness cannot be imposed but must be arrived at, because to make yourself 'not think' is to be doing something. And, paradoxically, to truly do nothing at all is to be absolutely fully awake and aware, especially of yourself and your own mind. This is remarkably difficult because we have been mentally trained throughout life to condemn, to approve, and to compare; in other words – to think.

A truly quieted mind is free, free to observe without comment - and free enough to learn.

May we sit this Sunday in favor of true quietness. May we follow the path of observation. May we learn our way forward in this life.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday June 10th, 2018

Hello everyone, beliefs are strange things, requiring effort. Beliefs must be formulated, refined, adhered to, defended, and perhaps maintained at all costs even in the face of opposing evidence.

Yet we do not need a belief that there are mountains, or sunshine, or air. These things simply are. We know the truth of them. Are there deeper things which 'simply are'? Deeper things whose truth can be known without need of defense? 

In a state of fervent prayer or intense meditation we may come to know many such things, to know them beyond question.

May we sit this Sunday for that depth which cannot be described with words. May we learn things which can be experienced but not taught. May spiritual truths become known in the absolute silence. 

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday June 3rd, 2018

Hello everyone, having the self-awareness to recognize whether we are loving outwardly or acting from self-serving desires is essential. Our thoughts, words, and actions reverberate outwardly for years, and the intentions which drive them can color our world for generations. As the future depends upon the seeds we plant now, let us be aware and choose carefully.

May we sit this evening for the future which is set in motion today. May we have the love and the courage to see beyond our human frailties. May our spirituality, our true compassion, shine through for all.

Thank you,

Richard

For Sunday May 27th, 2018

Hello everyone, one of the guide posts for assessing spiritual development is observing the occurrence of conflict. Does conflict increase in your presence or does it tend toward resolution? With appropriate self-honesty we can discern our progression.

By examining our thoughts and justifications for conflicts which may exist we often find a trove of opportunities for releasing.

May we sit this Sunday for that self-honesty, for the humility to reconsider, and for the Light which pushes us from within that we may confront our fears.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday May 20th, 2018

Hello to everyone, the 'source of all things' is not out there somewhere distantly waiting to be found; it is in-erasably within. We have covered it over with rituals, traditions, cultures, ideologies, political isms, and belief systems of every imagined kind. Every child of creation on earth has a different concept of what is essential - Oneness.

The long-sought spiritual transformation of earth depends upon each of us seeing beyond the layers of our personal obfuscation. As we see through our own distracting layers we can more easily see through that of others, and reach the connective tissue within.

May we sit this Sunday to find the greater reality which rests beneath our thinking, deep within our hearts, closer than breath itself.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday May 13th, 2018

Hello everyone, here's a story. A 92 year old man enters a nursing home and gives up on life. He had been abandoned by his mother at age three. At age four his father left him in an orphanage. At 17 he entered the military. By 24 he was in a challenging marriage with children. He soon moved on to other difficult marriages. And over the years his spotty connection with his children became even more tenuous, not seeing one for 30 years.

Now, laying in the nursing home, he wrote his military record on a tissue box. It looked like a monument, a cry for help, "Someone please notice I was here."

Over the course of a few months the children he had abandoned gathered around him, no longer constrained by other wives. They visited, they joked, they teased, and went through old pictures of days gone by as if they had never stopped loving him, and they told him so.

It worked. 

In a group hug around his wheelchair as they were saying 'I love you' his ancient, battered heart opened. Through tears he finally replied, "I realize that now. I didn't know before."

He may pass at any time. He may hold on a while. But when his time comes, if all goes well, perhaps he'll be open and willing to reconnect with the mother he hasn't seen in nearly 90 years.

May we sit this evening for the power of applied love, for the miraculous changes it can bring, and for the future of us all.

Thank you,

Richard

For Sunday May 6th, 2018

Hello to all, looking outward at our strongly opinionated and weakly connected society we must realize this; that connections are vastly more important than opinions. Opinions are easy to have and hold. Since they are things of the mind, all it takes is a steadfast refusal to acknowledge anything beyond our own thoughts. Opinions can be dead, stagnant, and amazingly divisive; while connections are living things which, at their best, are nurtured and maintained from the heart where they become the building blocks of Oneness.

And what is it that humanity is to move toward?

May we look around at those we meet and those we already know. May we honor the connective tissues which bind us. May we find a clear path through the tumult.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday April 29th, 2018

Hello to everyone, the Dalai Lama says that at their core negative thoughts come from a combination of a self-centered attitude and a failure to see reality clearly. Knowing this does not make negative thoughts immediately disappear, but it does give us pause to consider.

By looking within a self-centered attitude is the easiest to perceive. From outright selfishness to express concerns of our own well-being; these are human frailties which we all share.

What does it take to see reality more clearly? We typically take reality at face value, as it appears to be to us. Yet we know that our own viewpoint is limited by our personal experiences, which are not the only valid experiences available. Further, the Buddhist teachings of selflessness and emptiness lead us far beyond the realms of physical experiences.

May we sit this Sunday for the release of self-concern, for clarity of sight, and for the openness of mind that may well allow the entry of wisdom and altruism.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday April 22nd, 2018

Hello everyone, violence evolves slowly, the Rwandan civil war of the 1990s was decades in the making. Long simmering tensions, rather than being resolved, were inflamed by hardliners. A million people died in a genocide spurred by 'hate-radio' broadcasts. The broadcasts mocked, dehumanized, and finally culminated in one saying, "Sharpen your machetes, it's time to kill your neighbors."  

That's a difficult past to come to terms with.

So now, twenty-four years later, a different theme is being presented. A radio soap opera has recently premiered which focuses on reconciliation. It has been wildly successful at changing attitudes and behaviors in just a few months, but it's only a beginning.

May we search our hearts as we sit this Sunday, this Earth Day. May our own hardline or conciliatory desires become clear to us. May we promote that which leads to Oneness.

Thank you,

Richard

For Sunday April 15th, 2018

Hello to all, watching the evening news can bring a worrisome sense of turmoil, while taking the dog out for it's last relief allows a different view. Seeing the quiet stillness of barren trees with soft grey clouds brings to mind, "And still they stand. And still, they stand."

It's a gentle reminder – there are forces at work which are much larger than the turmoils born of our small humanness and our frailties.

May we sit this evening for those still and greater forces. May we connect. May we respond. May we bring them forth in life.

Thank you all,

Richard

For Sunday April 8th, 2018

Hello everyone, the world's problems can be seen as personal problems writ large. If we come across an unpleasant truth within us we can also see it reflected in society around us. So, personal healing is a form of world change.

In other words, the quiet introspection required for personal awareness and healing can bring compassion and truth to an ailing planet.

Let us sit this Sunday for the local personal healing which is an essential part of global spiritual enhancement.

Thank you,

Richard

For Sunday April 1st, 2018

Hello to all, Fred Rogers said some wonderful things, far too many to list here, but it's the look on his face which catches you up. You can see his creative mind working in the service of his great heart.

Fred Rogers poured himself into life, filling every available moment with grace.

May it be that his example, and others, will help us find our own true hearts and lead our thinking onward by the love which lives within all.

Thank you for all you do,

Richard